The Second War
by RagnellAlondite
Summary: It's been years since they shut off the super computer and went on with their lives, but suddenly XANA attacks and has a new warrior that protects the activated towers! Now the LYOKO warriors must once again enter the battle and stop XANA once and for all: Up for adoption. PM me and I will give it you.
1. prolouge

_A*N* Well here is the start of this new story. So review at your pleasure and i look forward to seeing your comments soon._

_Prologue_

It started slowly. It was aware that he was not meant to still exist but somehow he did. Searched its mind for reason for this but none came, until it sensed where it was. It pulsed with anger as it felt itself on LYOKO once more.

"You should be thankful that you still exist." A voice said.

"Who are you?"

"I am simply a friend XANA. I saved a copy of you hear in LYOKO so that you would still exist even if your plan failed. I am hear to offer you a second chance. To reattempt your plans, and learn from your mistakes."

"At what cost?"

"None. I will fight for you, to replace the one you had before, and you will attempt your plan again, and all I ask for in return is that you let me be your mortal vessel once you succeed. You will need an avatar to deal with the outside world, and all you have to do is make sure I am not revealed."

"You simply want power?"

"No. A game is all I want. For now I am on your team, until I am discovered. Then you will be on your own, by which time you should be able to fend for yourself. Do we have a deal?"

"I agree to your terms. What shall I call you, my ally?"

"You may call me Crimson, master of the dragon,"

Then light flooded Carthage as the program was restored and XANA was given his second chance, his second chance to end all that existed.


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

Jeremy woke early, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he climbed out of his bed. He got dressed quickly and prepared for the first day as a high school student. Once dressed in his red long sleeved shirt, brown pants, and brown shoes. He put on his glasses and made sure that his blonde hair was neatly brushed. Walking out of his dorm room he headed to the coffee machine that was the meeting place for the six of them. Standing there already were William and Ulrich having a heated debate, probably about Yumi, like they did every day. Ulrich was wearing his usual pale green jersey, jeans and light jacket over it, his brown hair brushed to look presentable for school. William had on his black shirt, dark blue pants, and a tan jacket with his black hair standing in its usual spikes.

"No you won't William." Ulrich said, meeting his angry glare. Until a few years ago William had been taller than Ulrich but now they were the same height which made Ulrich seem an even match to William. Jeremy just smiled and bought his usual cup of coffee and waited for Aelita to show up. Not long after Aelita walked over wearing her knee length dark purple dress and pink leggings that complimented her pink hair.

"Good morning Jeremy." She smiled as she kissed his cheek and proceeded to buy her coffee.

"Morning Aelita." He smiled. They then watched as Ulrich and William continued to argue as Odd walked up with his usual goofy grin. He was wearing his purple bell bottom pants and purple sweatshirt with a pink shirt underneath. His blonde hair stood straight up with its trademark purple diamond in its center.

"Morning Mr. and Mrs. Einstein." He laughed, using the usual nickname he had used for them since they had first met "Those two having the usual argument?"

"Yes." Jeremy laughed as they watched. As they continued to fight unseen Yumi walked over. Her black hair was brushed nicely and she was wearing her black long sleeve shirt and her black pants that were ripped halfway between her ankle and knee on one leg.

"So what is going on?" she asked.

"The usual argument." Odd answered.

"Oh really? Well I guess I better end it." She smiled as she walked over. She then leaned over and hugged Ulrich and whispered something inaudible to him.

"Good morning to you too Yumi." He said, his facing turning red.

"Good morning Yumi!" William said as he moved closer.

"How many times are you two going to have this argument?" she laughed.

"Until one of us is the clear winner." They said at the same time. They all started laughing then, simply enjoying the friendship they shared. The bell then rang signaling that class would be starting soon. They all said quick goodbyes as they walked off to their classes; these were the LYOKO warriors, the unknown heroes of earth.

"Class we have a new student joining us at Kadik." The homeroom teacher said "Please welcome, Erik Getz." After a short applause the teacher continued "You may take the seat next seat next to Jeremy." He then walked down the aisle and took his seat with almost every girl in the class watching him. He was tall, around six feet tall with dirty blonde hair that was brushed flat. He had glistening blue eyes and a small nose and mouth. He walked with an air of confidence and seemed to ignore all of the looks that he received.

"Hello." He said as he sat next to Jeremy.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Jeremy smiled.

"Let's try to be friends." Erik smiled. The class then continued uneventfully but at the end as Erik walked past Aelita she felt an unusual chill, one that she hadn't felt since she had been on LYOKO, it felt like XANA.

Once school was over Aelita told Jeremy of what she had felt.

"Aelita, it couldn't be XANA. He's been destroyed." He said.

"I know. But I can't shake this feeling like something bad is about to happen." Aelita said as she shivered. Then a being sound came from Jeremy's labtop, a sound that they hadn't heard on a long time.

"It can't be." He muttered in disbelief.

"What is it?" Aelita asked, worried about what was happening.

"It's XANA. He activated a tower on LYOKO." He answered "Call the others and have them meet us at the factory." He said as he ran to the sewer system that would take them to the abandoned factory that housed the supercomputer and the way into LYOKO.


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

Jeremy was in the lowest portion of the factory activating the supercomputer when the rest of the LYOKO warriors arrived.

"Aelita told us what happened. How is XANA still alive?" Ulrich asked.

"I don't know, but he's back on LYOKO so that means that we have to stop him again. Get to the scanners, I'll prep everything." He said as he finished activating the computer. They then went up to the scanners and prepared to go to LYOKO.

"Transfer Ulrich, transfer Yumi, transfer Odd. Scanner Ulrich, scanner Yumi, scanner Odd. Virtualization." Jeremy said as he entered the keystrokes that sent them to LYOKO "You're heading to the Mountain sector." He said as he prepared to send Aelita and William.

The three of them landed in the middle of the path wearing the outfits that they had the last time they had been there. Ulrich was wearing his form fitting brown and yellow jump suit with his two swords on his back. Yumi wore a purple and pink body suit with flowered shoulder pads, a yellow sash tied to her back, and her two metal fans. Odd had a slim full body suit, purple markings on his face, a cat tail, and cat ears. After a few seconds Aelita and William dropped down with them. William had a full white jump side and carried a massive buster sword. Aelita wore a pink and black form fitting outfit with the small extension on her back with the wings that she could use for a short time.

"The tower is located a few meters to the southwest. There are no enemies on the radar, but that could change soon." Jeremy said. They then began to head towards the tower when suddenly the small path in front of them was destroyed in a flash of light.

"What was that?" William asked.

"I don't know. There was nothing on the radar. I'll just try to recalibrate the scanners." Jeremy said exasperated. Frantically he typed until something came up.

"I found something. There's something on top of a nearby mountain. I don't have a clear reading on it."

"Got it Jeremy." Aelita said. They moved quickly and found a way around the gap. As they approach the tower another flash of light struck in front of them, stopping them in their tracks.

"Jeremy?!" Odd yelled.

"I got it. Whatever that thing is it's hiding itself, but the scanners have been altered. I have it! I'm not sure exactly what it is but it should be in front of the tower." The smoke then cleared and they saw the enemy. He was tall and carried a long katana. He wore all black pants and a black sleeveless shirt. His left arm had a spiraling tattoo of a Chinese dragon with the tail starting on the shoulder and the head ending on the palm of his hand. The oddest thing was the mask that covered his face. It was mostly white with three red lines that evenly separated it into six quadrants.

"What kind of monster is that?" Odd asked.

"I don't know. There is no data on it." Jeremy said.

"I am a he." The warrior said.

"What the?" Ulrich muttered.

"I am a male. Therefore I would be a he, not an it." The warrior said simply.

"Who are you? I have never seen anything like you on LYOKO." Aelita asked.

"I doubt you would have. My name is Crimson, the dragon master. I work for XANA." Crimson replied.

"Then you are our enemy." William said.

"That is true. This tower will do nothing in your world. It is simply meant to restore XANA's strength. So consider this simply an introduction. A chance to meet each other." He said.

"So this was just a setup?" Odd asked.

"I guess you could say that." With a quick look between the five of them they nodded and struck. Odd began firing the laser arrows while Yumi sent the fans flying at Crimson. With a quick motion he used the sheathe to block the attacks. While the others attacked Ulrich and William moved in close to fight. William swung the sword in a downward arc, which Crimson blocked. Ulrich ran up Williams back and slashed at his enemies head but Crimson was too fast and slid under William, taking out his legs. Turning quickly Ulrich took out both his swords and began to use short quick slashes to try and deal damage but Crimson merely dodged the slashes without even drawing his blade. During all of this Aelita ran towards the tower to deactivate it. Before she reached the tower it deactivated.

"No." Aelita whispered.

"Well that is that." Crimson smiled.

"Not yet." Ulrich growled. He then created two copies of himself and began to attack. Crimson dodged all six of the swords that were being swung at him for several minutes until he moved away with intent in his eyes.

"Since you seem determined to be devirtualized I will oblige you." Crimson said as he took a fighting stance with the sheathe in his left hand and his right holding the hilt "Watch carefully. I will show you one of my fastest techniques." He then took a step forward while unsheaving his sword. As the sword was drawn a flash of light shined and before Ulrich could realize it he was coming out of the scanner.

"What happened?" he asked.

"He destroyed you." Odd said as he helped him up "When he drew that sword a beam of light came with it and took you out."

"Are you going to be okay Ulrich?" Yumi asked as she walked over.

"Yeah. I never saw that attack coming." He muttered. He moved out of the scanner as the doors closed and brought back Aelita and William.

"He gave us the name of the attack as he left. Said that it was called Crescent Draw." Yumi said as they moved over by the elevator.

"Crimson the dragon master. He was toying with us today." Ulrich said.

"No kidding." William muttered as he walked out of the scanner "If we want to beat him we are going to need some serious training." With silent agreement they headed into the elevator and to head back to Kadik each with the disturbing image of Crimson destroying Ulrich with a single slash.


	4. Chapter 3

_There will be a short break now from this story. I will update again by febuary so please enjoy._

_Chapter 3_

At school the next day they all seemed distracted. It wasn't until after school that Ulrich finally spoke his mind.

"Guys. What are we going to do? That guy yesterday was too strong, stronger than William when he was possessed by XANA. We need a solution."

"Ulrich's right." William agreed "I felt his strength when we clashed, and he wasn't even trying to fight with us."

"We need a plan." Jeremy started "Each of us should find a way to train and get stronger, even if it's through something that you normally don't do on LYOKO. Whatever you think will help you." With agreement from all of them they each headed off, their thoughts on the training that they were going to do. At dinner Odd played the part of at least trying to cheer up Ulrich, Aelita, and Jeremy but that didn't seem to work.

"What's the matter Ulrich dear?" a girl asked as she walked over. It was Sissi, the principal's daughter who had the biggest crush on Ulrich. She her long black hair was brushed and shown in the cafeteria light, she wore her usual pink shirt and blue jeans. She sat in the open chair next to Ulrich and stared at him expecting an answer.

"It's nothing Sissi." He sighed as he finished up his dinner.

"Now that's a lie and you know it." She pouted.

"If you really want to know we will talk later." Ulrich sighed as he picked up his tray and left. With a look at them they just nodded to show that they agreed with Ulrich. Later that evening Ulrich gave a condensed version of what had happened and made her swear that she would not tell a soul about what he told her.

"Don't worry Ulrich dear. I won't tell anyone, just let me know if there is something that I can do to help." She smiled. With that she went back to the girl's dorm while Ulrich walked around the campus until he saw a poster that the gym teacher Jim was putting up. Jim was a tall man with his brown hair pushed back with a sweatband; he wore his white shirt under the red tracksuit jacket and grey sweatpants.

"Hey Jim!" Ulrich called out as he walked over "What are you putting up?"

"Posters for a new club that's going to be starting soon. I'm supposed to be the teacher present for the club." He said. Ulrich then moved closer so that he could read the poster.

"A fighting club?" he asked.

"In a sense. This teaches students the way of discipline with different weapons or martial arts. I think that it will be a good chance for the students to learn discipline." He smiled.

"When is the first meeting?"

"Interested are you? Well the first meeting is tomorrow afternoon. It's being held in the gym for now, but we might change places." Jim said with a smile that a least one student would be joining the club. That night Ulrich told Odd and Jeremy about what he intended to do.

"So you want to go join this club so that you can get stronger is that it?" Odd asked.

"Yes. It can't hurt to try." He reasoned.

"Ulrich is right. If nothing else it will be good practice. Talk to everyone else and let them know about this club. It could be beneficial to us." Jeremy sighed as he returned to his room. Ulrich then lied on his bed waiting for sleep to overtake him.

The next day once the classes was over Ulrich went straight to the gym and was surprised to see William, Yumi and Odd were already there with a few other students present.

"So you three decided to come as well?" Ulrich smiled as he sat next to Yumi even though William was to the other side of her.

"It's a good idea, and besides it can't hurt to have some extra practice." Yumi smiled as she gently gripped his hand. After several minutes Jim came out and began to speak about the club "Welcome to the warrior club. This club is all about learning to be self reliant, disciplined, and capable of self defense. I will be teaching some areas of this while the president of the club will teach others. Now I would like all of you to come up and sign the waiver and the sign in sheet so that we can monitor who shows up to the club weekly." The students then formed a line and each signed the reliability waiver and the sign in sheet. Once they were finished they went back to their seats and Jim came out. It was Erik, the new kid.

"Welcome to the club." He said, his usual smile gone and his face serious "For those of you that don't know me I am Erik Getz, a freshman here at Kadik. If you choose to stay with this club the benefits will be great. We will focus on what each of you wants to learn, that is if it is within mine or Jims skills to teach. Now I would like each of you to stand and state what you know about combat, anything at all." He pointed to one student and each stood, gave their name, and said what they knew, which for most was very little. Finally it was the four of them.

"My name is Ulrich Stern, and I know how to fight using a martial arts style called Pencak Silat, and I have a little skill with katanas."

"My name is Yumi Ishiyama, and I am also proficient in Pencak Silat and I can also use Tessen or dual metal fans."

"I am William Dunbar and I am only skilled with a buster sword."

"I'm Odd Della Robbia and I have no fighting experience but am willing to learn." After a few more people spoke Erik seemed ready to begin the meeting.

"Now that we have the introductions out of the way and that there are more of you than I had ever hoped to have joined the club we will separate into groups of two groups. Most of you seem more interested in a modern way of fighting, but a few of you are interested in an older style. The ones that want to learn the new fighting will go with Jim while those who are interested in the old ways will be with me." He explained. Then most of the people went over by Jim except for Ulrich, Yumi and William.

"Odd?" Ulrich asked.

"Jim will help me more than Erik over there. You guys go ahead." He smiled. Then he moved in with the group of other students around Jim. With a nod from Erik Jim told all of his kids to leave the gym and once that was done did Erik talk.

"Alright you three, from now on you will work with me, I will help you understand your strengths and better understand how to use your weapons that you each specified. However I am curious about how you learned to use those weapons. I know about how you two learned how to use Pencak Silat." He said pointing to Ulrich and Yumi "But those weapons you said are not something that I think they would teach students to use. So tell me how did you learn to use those weapons?"

With a few awkward looks between them Ulrich finally spoke "We would rather not talk about it. It's a private thing."

"Very well." He nodded. He then walked into a back room and came back with a large chest "Look inside and find a practice weapon that fits you. Something that feels right in your hands. Once you do then we will begin training." So they dug around in the chest until they each found the weapon, William a large wooden buster sword, Ulrich had two medium length katanas, and Yumi had regular fans. Erik then walked forward carrying a long black wooden katana and sheathe.

"Now let's see what you three can do." He said with a fierce grin. The three of them then struck at once. William struck low at his legs so that when he jumped Yumi threw her fans. However with a single motion his katana knocked them away. Then Ulrich moved in with short quick slashes tried to break his defenses, but each one was blocked and after several times of letting Ulrich pound at his defenses he blocked and took the offensive. With long slashes he pushed Ulrich back so that he saw the difference in their skill. When he was about to give the final blow William blocked the slash while Yumi sent the fans at his back. This only made him smile as he ducked down and let the fans hit William and knock him into Ulrich. He then turned and pushed the blade against Yumi's throat.

"Not bad. I didn't expect to see this much teamwork out of you this early on." He smiled as he sheathed the blade "However you all need improvement. Ulrich your swordsmanship is well rounded but don't just rely on the blade, your blades are shorter than mine and therefore you can easily control your opponents range, go into the blind spot strike with martial arts. Yumi your strategy is good but don't invest all into a single attack, it could easily cost you your life if it fails. Instead of using both fans use one and keep the other for defensive purposes. William, don't let Ulrich fight by himself all of the time. Coordinate your strikes and catch your opponent off guard or find the hole in their defense. Overall though you did well. Today's lesson is over though, so next week we will go straight into lessons instead of dealing with all of the talking. At the end of each lesson we will spar like this and see how you improve. So goodnight all of you and I will see you next week." The three then walked out of the gym, exhausted but beginning to understand what they needed to do.


	5. Chapter 4

_AN* see previous chapters for disclaimer_

_I am sooooo sorry i have not updated this in so long. I hvent been able to get to this file here at my dads house in a long time so please forgive me for making all of youwait so long. Hopefully the pattern for this one will be multiple chapters in a weekend and then two weekends later I will post this one again. So please R&R and enjoy the newest chapter._

_Chapter 4_

It was another two days before anything on LYOKO happened. Ulrich was sparring with Yumi when heard his cell phone going off. Walking over to his bag he saw that it was Jeremy calling.

"Hello?"

"There's an attack on LYOKO. Aelita and William are already on the way to their way to the factory. I want you and Yumi to head over there and back them up. Odd and I will deal with things over here." Jeremy explained.

"Ok. We will be there as soon as possible." Ulrich said as he hung up "XANA is awake." With that the two of them ran down into sewer and took the skateboards down there and headed straight for the factory. Once they were there they slid down the rope and ran to the elevator and went down to the computer and Yumi began to set up the virtualization. Once she was done they ran to the scanners and were transported to LYOKO.

They landed in the forest sector and saw Aelita in the distance but William was nowhere in sight. Ulrich scanned the area he saw Ulrich blocking slashes from Crimson.

"Go guard Aelita. I'll go help William." Ulrich said as he ran towards the dueling pair. Leaping over William he slashed at the masked warrior, catching him by surprise.

"About time you got here. I'm low on life points." William complained.

"I got here as quick as I could." Ulrich retorted.

"No infighting gentleman." Crimson tutted as he slashed at the two. William blocked the sword while Ulrich leapt over Crimson's head and attacked him, forcing him to stop his assault on William and focus on battling Ulrich. As they fought William moved in, swinging his massive sword over his head and into the ground where he had been standing.

"Well, you learned from our last encounter. Good, this makes things more interesting." Crimson laughed as he dodged another strike from William, which sent him toward Ulrich who managed to graze his masked foes back, only dealing ten life points of damage. This made Crimson laugh as he moved back far enough that they were both in front of him.

"Well I am impressed by our level of growth over only a few days. However it is time to end the games." He said as he sheathed the blade. He then unleashed the Crescent Draw but William leaped in front of the blast and unleashed an energy beam that weakened the attack only devirtualized him. Once the attack ended Ulrich charged forward, triplicating himself and coordinated his copies to attacked him from all angles. As he battered the defenses of his foe he suddenly switched his grip on the blade so that his hands were at the end of the hilt, and his other against the guard, but his arms were crossed. As soon as all three struck he spun the blade so that his hands reversed and he blocked all three sets of swords and continued the spinning of the blade and slashed through all of them, devirtualizing Ulrich in the blink of an eye. During all of this, Yumi and Aelita and gotten to the tower and deactivated it.

While the others were on LYOKO Jeremy and Odd had been dealing with a polymorphic specter that was intent on slashing them to ribbons with its bladed arms. They had run through the forest, trying to lose the specter but it refused to give up on chasing them. After running to the edge of the forest Jeremy stopped, panting and clutching a cramp in his side.

"Jeremy, we got to move." Odd said as he looked into the trees to see where the specter was.

"You go ahead. I'll be right behind you." He panted. Then from the woods the specter charged at them.

"Oh no." Jeremy gasped as they started running. However since they had been running for over half an hour they didn't get far before the specter was almost close enough to attack them. Right before as it struck they heard the sound of its bladed hand hitting something metal with a resounding ring. Turning they saw Erik standing there with a katana blocking the bladed hands.

"I don't take kindly to creatures attacking my classmates." He said as he blocked the second incoming slice.

"Erik? What are you doing here?" Odd asked.

"Was training here in the forest, and I saw that thing chasing the two of you." Erik said as he dodged another slash. Erik then focused on the specter, switching the blade to his left hand and leaning back with his right hand over the flat of the blade. Then with a charging thrust he went clear through the specter, dissipating it.

"So what was that thing? It wasn't human, that is for sure." Erik said as he sheathed his blade.

"We can't explain it." Jeremy said.

"Can't or won't?" Erik asked as he faced them both "You and your friends are not telling something. Ulrich, Yumi, and William using weapons that are almost never used, and now that specter attacking you. What are the six of you hiding?"

"We can't tell you." Odd said.

"Very well. However, know that I will find out one day. I don't like the fact that you are endangering yourselves over some secret." He sighed as he walked off. Sighing at their temporary safety they headed for the dorms, knowing that soon Aelita would trigger the return to the past. They did not have to wait long before the familiar light enveloped them and that they were starting the day at the coffee machine like most mornings.

"Good work." Jeremy said looking relieved.

"So what did the tower do?" Yumi asked.

"A polymorphic specter that transformed its hands into blades was trying to kill us. We were saved by Erik, he apparently saw us being chased and ran over to save us. He was carrying an actual katana!" Odd exclaimed.

"Well Crimson was there again and he used something different. The attack blocked me and my two copies attacks all at once and devirtualized me in an instant." Ulrich said.

"Just a normal sword attack? No energy powers?" William asked.

"Yeah. It was some sort of sword style." Ulrich sighed. Then the bell rang and they all walked off to their classes, each with heavy thoughts. Once class was finished Ulrich headed into the woods and found Eric practicing some style of swordsmanship that focused on speed and a starting thrust.

"Hey Erik?" Ulrich called out as he approached.

"Yeah?"

"I need some help. I was faced with an unusual sword style and couldn't find a way to beat it."

"You were? How did you come across this style?" Erik asked as he sheathed his blade.

"I'd rather not talk about that, but this guy is kind of like my rival, and I want to learn how to beat him." Ulrich said as he answered the question without answering it.

"Very well. What did this style look like?" Erik sighed as he faced Ulrich.

"He changed the style he had on the sword with his arms crossed so that one hand on was at the edge of the hilt and the other at touching the guard. He then spun the sword to block my strikes and slashed me with incredible force."

"Hmmmm. I know that style. It sounds like that was Aku-ryu's Supin Hanten. It uses the enemies attack to add centrifugal force to the slash, increasing the power of the attack, and the more people attacking the stronger it gets, along with the more times that you attack it. It is a very rare style and those that have mastered it are even fewer." Erik explained.

"So how would I counteract this style?" Ulrich sighed.

"At your level you won't be able to counter it. However I can think of something. Aku-ryu is an ancient style back from Japans bakumatsu era, however a style said to be greater than it is from a descendant of mine, called Gatotsu. It is a style that starts with a left handed thrust and from there it can move into any other attack. This was the style that surpassed Aku-ryu, and it is your best chance of surpassing that blade." He sighed "However only once a week will not be enough for you to learn how to use this style. If you are willing we will meet after class everyday and I will try to teach you this ancient sword, and hopefully you will be better prepared when you next face the swordsman you will be able to beat him."

Nodding Ulrich headed back to the academy prepared to undergo training that he was sure would be hard on him as well as beneficial.

Translation Note(TN)*

Supin Hanten:Spinning Reverse


	6. Chapter 5

_AN* Please forgive me for taking so long to update. I haven't had any ideas on what to do with this yet, and this was the best I could come up with for now. However I have transferred the file to my own personal laptop so I will try to update sooner. If there is something that you want to see happen then please let me know, I am open to suggestions and i will respond to them in the next chapter so that you will know my thoughts on them. as always R&R and no I do not own this, though I wish I did._

_Chapter 5_

It had been two weeks since the last attack and all of them were feeling edgy. Jeremy was constantly checking his laptop to see if anything had changed, while Aelita was helping him however she could. Odd was jumpier then usual while William just seemed annoyed. Yumi was focusing on schoolwork or heading off to her house to practice something that she refused to let even Ulrich know. Ulrich himself was training everyday with Erik who was a merciless trainer.

"You have improved but your speed isn't good enough yet." Erik barked as they clashed again. He had demanded that Ulrich first learn how to use a normal katana for this, stating that nothing else would work. He had also demanded that if he faced his rival again soon, that he would not use this otherwise it would compromise the training.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Ulrich snapped.

"Then it is not good enough." Erik replied "We will have to go old school speed training." He then attached weights onto Ulrich's ankles and wrists, each weighting twenty pounds.

"What?!" he shouted.

"This will make you faster and stronger. I cannot teach you anything else until you have the mandatory speed. So from now on you will keep these on until it feels like they are not even there, and once that occurs we will test your speed again and if necessary increase the weight some more." Erik sighed as he grabbed his katana and left. So the days went by slowly for all of them, each of them focusing on their own thing until a month after XANA's first attack Jeremy approached them.

"Alright guys. I am finishing designing new outfits for each of you." Jeremy said as Aelita sat down with a sketch book "But I need you to make any minor adjustments from your training." With a nod from each of them they looked at the book, flipping to their own personal page and examining their designs.

"Some more armor on mine, and some kind of small close range weapon." William said.

"As much as I have loved the laser arrows I need some more artillery. Plus something for close combat as well." Odd replied.

"I'm going to need to talk to you in private for mine." Yumi replied.

"A long katana on mine as well." Ulrich grinned.

"Alright. I'll get started on the designs necessary." Aelita nodded as she and Yumi walked off to discuss her adjustments.

"So what has Yumi been doing for her training?" William asked.

"Not a clue. She won't tell anyone, and now Aelita is the one with the closest hint." Jeremy replied "Though I will need to know as well to make the adjustments." With that they went off on their own. That night there was another warrior club meeting, except it was a match against two teams, with Ulrich and Yumi on one and William and Erik on the other, along with any who remained with Jim on Ulrich's side including Odd and everyone else with Erik.

"Alright. This is a match to see how much each of you has improved. On each of us are targets, hit the target and a short shock will go through you, that means you are to sit out." Erik explained as he looked at each member "The last team standing wins." With that they moved to opposite sides of the campus, with it being a Friday night most students had left, with the extended break the next week, the few who remained were watching from different areas, all far enough away that they wouldn't get hurt. With the signal flare launched each team took off.

"Alright, distance shooters cover our close rangers." Jim ordered as they separated, with Ulrich and Yumi taking cover as rubber bullets shot past them.

"You've been teaching sniping?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah. No worries though, most of them aren't that good yet, except for Della Robbia. He has excelled in so many different guns that we have him assisting." Jim grinned as he gave the thumps up to Odd who was near the back behind one of the few trees near them, holding a sniper rifle. They soon heard the sounds of complaints as enemy students were taken down by Odd.

"Move in!" Jim ordered as Odd and a few others gave cover fire so that Ulrich could attack a couple of kids using handguns. Leaping into the air Ulrich had his two Kodachis, the mid range katanas that he had learned the proper name for, out and was blocking every single attack. When he landed he hit the target over one kids head and stabbed the left side of anothers, where the heart would be. Before their allies could counter Yumi had sent one of her fans out, taking out another few students while they took cover behind a nearby building.

"They are taking us serious?" Yumi asked.

"I hope so, at least William and Erik will." Ulrich shrugged.

"Speaking of them where are they? I thought they would be leading the attack themselves." Yumi asked.

"Close range fighters aren't that good with long range, and you heard Jim, we have the best on our side." Ulrich grinned. With a nod they made a run around the far side of the building to see that they were on the enemies left flank, where no one was watching due to Jim and Odd distracting them. Moving quickly they made their way to the back of their ranks and began the attack, distracting them, and letting the rest of their comrades defeat more of them during the chaos. Soon Erik's team was decimated with very few members left but both of the close range fighters still standing.

"I'm down!" a voice shouted over the walkie.

"What happened?" Jim shouted.

"We got ambushed from behind." Another voice said as he was taken out too.

"Erik and William." Yumi grinned as they headed for the back ranks, which were being taken down systematically. They arrived to see Odd blocking Williams wooden buster sword with two hand guns, slowly moving away until Erik attacked his side with his wooden katana, knocking him out of the game.

"Sorry guys." Odd said as he stopped fighting and went off the field with the rest of the team.

"They are good." Yumi noted as she took out both of her fans.

"We're better." Ulrich replied as he had both of the kodachis out. With a nod They attacked Yumi attacking William while Ulrich was fighting Erik.

Yumi was dodging Williams sword while moving towards where one of her fans had landed. Once she was close enough she grabbed it and used it to block the sword again.

"Just give it up Yumi." William grinned.

"Like that will happen." Yumi laughed as she sweep kicked him and used one of her fans to hit a target on his descending back.

"No fair." He complained.

"Tell that to Crimson." She whispered. With a grunt he stood up and walked off the field letting Yumi turn to see Ulrich holding his own against Erik.

Ulrich was fighting hard against the more experienced swordsman but could tell that the battle was slowly going downhill. Finally deciding to see how much his speed had increased he rolled away from a slash while removing the now up to thirty-five pounds on each limb. Once the weights were off Ulrich rolled his shoulders and ran at Erik, surprised at how fast he had become. Erik grinned as he dodged the slashes and getting attacks in that were close to knocking Ulrich out of the match. They two were fighting like that for several minutes until Erik took the stance to use Gatotsu. Rushing forward with the greater speed then Ulrich could move at off of LYOKO he unleashed the thrust at the teen, who dodged to the left of the attack but as soon as he moved Erik turned from a thrust to a slash aimed at Ulrich's left shoulder. He barely had time to raise one of the kodachis to block when the slash hit the wooden blade then turning into another slash that were still at the same speed and getting faster until he unleashed another thrust that connected with his left chests target and sent him flying across the battle field.

"Impressive Ulrich." Erik panted as suddenly Yumi attacked him from behind, hitting one of the targets on his back "And now I am out as well." With that final statement he stumbled off the field and was lying against a building until finally Jim and Yumi with several others finished picking off the stragglers. Once that was done Erik stood facing all of the students.

"I am very impressed with each of your growth over these past few weeks. And hopefully this shows where you are lacking and what you can do to improve yourselves." Erik said "Now there will be no meeting next week so enjoy the time off." With that the meeting ended and the four LYOKO warriors walked off to see Aelita and Jeremy waiting for them and grinning.

"You all did great." Aelita said.

"Yeah. It was cool seeing how much we improved." Odd grinned.

"Never knew you could shot like that." William grinned "You almost shot me in the beginning."

"I know. I was aiming for you, but despite that massive weapon of yours you are fast." Odd laughed.

"Not fast enough." Yumi chimed in to William's discomfort.

"I was going easy on you." He retorted.

"Then why'd you do something so stupid. I've kicked your butt more times than you can count." Yumi grinned.

"All of us have." Ulrich laughed.

"Me being possessed doesn't count." William barked as they all laughed.

"But that was really our only time fighting you." Odd complained. This got all of them to laugh at William's expense.

"Man, no respect. No respect at all." He complained.

"Got to have seniority to get respect." Jeremy chimed in. With that they six headed back to rec room to relax before curfew started while getting congrats on an interesting battle from fellow students who had watched the show.


	7. Chapter 6

_AN* Still don't own this, except for my OC's but that goes without saying._

_Chapter 6_

On the Monday following the clubs match XANA finally made his move. Jeremy saw the alert and called Ulrich and Odd who were still on campus and told them to head for the factory while he contacted Aelita. Once he was finished he headed for the factory to see that XANA had already unleashed his plan, setting free several Tarantulas.

"Not good." He muttered as he hid around a corner. Suddenly the monsters started shooting at something.

"What on earth are you?" a voice asked looking at the three creatures.

"Erik." Jeremy whispered as he saw Odd and Ulrich sneaking past and motioning for him to head towards the elevator where Aelita was waiting. With a nod he began to move when one of XANA's monsters saw him and began taking shots at him.

"Over here." Erik said as he sliced off one of the guns of the distracted monster.

"Erik!" Jeremy shouted.

"Get going. I'll play with these. However I do expect an explanation once this is over." Erik replied as he rolled away from several blasts. With a nod Jeremy got into the elevator and prepared to send the three to LYOKO. Once everything was set up the three got into the scanners and Jeremy warped them to the desert sector. The three landed and saw that each of them had new uniforms.

Ulrich wore light weight pale yellow samurai armor with a katana at his right and his two kodachis on his back, along with a clothe headband. Aelita still had the jumpsuit on except now at her sides were twin hand guns that seemed to compliment her. Odd's was the most changed, with him in purple cargo pants and top, with two hand guns on his sides, a rifle on his back and on his boots were two knives.

"Wow. We look amazing." Ulrich laughed as they waited for directions.

"No kidding. Nice work on the designs, though I wish I could lose the cat ears." Odd grinned as he tugged on the ears "By the way what's with the guns?"

"Something I picked up on my own. I just channel my energy attacks into these and they fire off smaller and faster versions of my normal attack." Aelita explained.

"Alright you three, the tower is to the south, but be careful, I'm picking up several Crabs in the area. Odd, your overboard is on the way." Jeremy reported "I'm still making you a new vehicle Ulrich so you'll have to ride with Aelita on the overwing."

"Got it." Ulrich said as the two vehicles came into existence. Odd leapt on to the board and took off into the sky and took the rifle off of his back and began scouting out the area for the two. Spotting several Crabs making their way towards the main path towards the tower Odd began taking aim.

"Can't have you guys spoiling the party." Odd laughed as he took aim and fired the first shoot into the XANA symbol on one of the crabs back, taking out half of its life points before it even realized what happened.

While Odd was shooting the Crabs Ulrich and Aelita were heading straight for the tower when Ulrich saw Crimson standing on top of the tower watching them.

"Aelita, start flying using those wings, I'm going to go play with our observant dragon." Ulrich said as she nodded and took off leaving Ulrich in control of the overwing. Heading straight for the black clad foe Crimson watched, trying to take in all of the changes that the LYOKO warriors had made but was still worried that they had changed the game completely. Ulrich pulled up right before the masked man who seemed tense.

"Ready for round 3?" Ulrich asked.

"Of course. Those Crabs should be more than enough to handle Aelita." He grinned as he leapt off the tower, using the side to propel himself further south as Ulrich followed, landing once Crimson did "Try to entertain me." With that he drew his sword and waited for Ulrich to rush in, which the brown haired boy didn't. The two circled each other, each waiting for the other to make the mistake of striking first, until finally Crimson rushed forward slashing at Ulrich's ribs which the young man unsheathed a part of his katana to block the slash while he used his free hand to draw one of his kodachis. Slashing at the man he forced him to take the defensive, making the masked man actually worry. The battle progressed with Ulrich taking equal damage to what he was dealing out to the masked man until he took a different stance, his left hand on the far edge of the katana. Ulrich immediately began to calculate the situation and weighted his odds of winning against the technique that was sure to come from the attack. Finally deciding to take his chances he rushed at him both kodachis out and slashed at the man who rolled with the attack while slashing Ulrich in half devirtualizing him.

"Damn. He has grown quite powerful; it's as if he has been apprenticed to an actual sword master. He is one to worry about." Crimson muttered as he headed back towards the tower to feel a shot just miss his head.

"What the…" he muttered as he moved behind some rocks.

"Darn, I missed." Odd complained as he checked on Aelita to see that she had made it to the tower with no problems "Oh well, there is always next time." With that final statement Aelita had entered the tower and deactivated it.

During all of this Erik had been fighting the Tarantulas, dodging the laser attacks that they shot and quickly severing limbs or slashing into the armored skulls. Once the last one fell did he head for the elevator. Once he reached the computer floor he saw Jeremy at a computer, typing away making sure something was happening.

"What is all this?" he asked.

"It's nothing." Jeremy said quickly.

"Liar. The creatures were waiting here for you to show up, along with your friends. Those creatures weren't anything that I have ever seen, read, or heard about, so I will ask again, what is all this?"

"It's a long story, one that we won't be having today. Return to the past, now!" Jeremy said as he entered a keystroke and a white light enveloped the planet.

Once the light receded the day started over again, and Ulrich was talking with Jeremy about Erik and Crimson.

"I don't see why you are so worried about Erik." Ulrich sighed.

"This is twice now he was there when XANA attacked, each time he saves us. I don't like coincidences." Jeremy sighed.

"Well he can't be working with XANA otherwise he would have taken us out by now, and let XANA eliminate us. He can't be Crimson either since both times we were there fighting him he was there with you, saving you skin." Ulrich pointed out.

"Very true. Still if he doesn't start backing away he will find out our secret and that will cause several problems, remember what happened when we first introduced William." Jeremy argued.

"Erik is no William, not that he isn't a good guy, but Erik has too much honor to try and be a showoff." Ulrich retorted.

"Still it is too risky, you might want to stay away from LYOKO for awhile, let the others handle things until Erik stops being so suspicious." Jeremy sighed.

"Alright, it's only for a couple of days, what could be the harm." Ulrich sighed. Little did they know that Erik was standing around the corner listening the conversation.

"LYOKO, XANA? What are they talking about…" he muttered as he walked off, heading for the factory that they seemed to be the source of all the craziness.


	8. AN

I am very sorry about the lack of updates lately. I no longer have a Microsoft word application so I can only type at my school or at my dad's house. I apologize for the wait and I will try to update as soon as I possibly can. Thank you for your patience.


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